From Christian Pulisic to Tyler Adams: Every USMNT summer transfer graded

After Troyes' relegation from Ligue 1, central defender Erik Palmer-Brown was on the move, joining Greek giants Panathinaikos. The move, though, takes the defender somewhat out of the public eye at a time where he could very well be vying for a spot with the USMNT.

No disrespect to the Greek league, but Palmer-Brown has taken a step down after spending the last two seasons in Ligue 1. The good news, though, is that he will have the opportunity to play in the Europa League, which could put him on the radar of bigger European clubs.

For this move to help Palmer-Brown get to where he needs to be, he'll need to shine on those European nights. If not, it'll be tough for him to break into the USMNT picture. Grade: C+

Matt Turner needed a starting spot after spending his first, and only, season at Arsenal on the bench. He's found it at Nottingham Forest, but it is a bit precarious.

Turner has joined his fellow USMNT goalkeeper Ethan Horvath at the City Ground after Horvath failed to secure his own move away, despite starring at Luton Town last season, and looked set to be his international team-mate's back-up.

That was until Forest went out and signed Greece international Odysseas Vlachodimos, who has spent the last five years as a key player at Benfica. What that will end up meaning for Turner remains to be seen, but it's safe to say that a poor run of form could leave him in a precarious spot.

Before Forest signed Vlachodimos, this would have gotten a higher grade, but that move is perhaps an indication that manager Steve Cooper doesn't have full faith in Turner. It'll be up to him to prove he's the only goalkeeper they need, and he has the chance as he has begun the season as the No.1. Grade: B-

From the Championship to the Champions League, and, boy, did that seem unlikely! After a disastrous attacking season at Leeds, Brenden Aaronson has fallen upwards to Union Berlin, sealing a loan to a club that stunned the Bundesliga to finish in the top four last season.

Is Aaronson a natural fit in the German top-flight? Probably. He's all-effort and all-hustle, and German soccer tends to appreciate players that play in that manner. However, for Aaronson to make any sort of impact on a club at this level, he'll need to be a whole lot better than he was last season.

You can chalk up his Leeds struggles to a lack of confidence or lack of fitness, which could be understandable given the gruelling schedule he faced last season. This season, though, there can be no excuses as he faces a major 'prove it' campaign in Berlin.

Aaronson was a bit lucky to move to a club of this level, and it could be argued that he may have benefitted from a year in the Championship or in a lesser league. This move gives him the chance to show what he can do, but if he struggles again, he'll really have to claw his way back to a top league after this loan is over. Grade: B-

Matthew Hoppe simply needs to play soccer, wherever that is. After breaking through as a future star at Schalke, the forward has made a series of disastrous transfer decisions. Because of that, he now finds himself here, heading to MLS in hopes of reviving his career.

His goals at Schalke during the 2020-21 season saw him burst onto the scene, but, in the years since, he played just 23 games of senior soccer across four different leagues. Mallorca, Middlesbrough, Hibernian... none worked. It's been a tough tumble for the 22-year-old forward.

Now on loan with the Quakes, Hoppe just needs to get on the field and make up for the lost time of the past few years. There's a prospect in there still. You don't score goals in the Bundesliga by accident, but some team needs to figure out how to bring that talent out. Can it be the Quakes? Hoppe will hope so. It's time he finally finds a home. Grade: B

Rumored to be considering a return to MLS this summer, George Bello instead opted to stay in Europe with LASK in Austria after leaving Arminia Bielefeld. He endured back-to-back relegations with the German side, making that situation all but untenable. Now, he'll move to a team in LASK that routinely competed near the top of the Austrian league.

In addition, LASK will compete in the Europa League, where they'll face Liverpool, Toulouse and Union Saint-Gilloise, which will give Bello chances to impress if he does feature.

That back-up USMNT left-back spot remains somewhat up for grabs, and Bello, at just 21, is still a player that could seize it this cycle. Grade: B

As evidenced by the video below, Gabriel Slonina is quickly adjusting to life off the field with Eupen. However, it's how he adjusts to life on the field that will define this loan.

After spending last season with Chelsea's youth team, Slonina will get a taste of senior European soccer with this loan move to the Belgian side. Aside from a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of giants Club Brugge, the results have been okay, but it has to be said that Slonina has conceded a lot of goals early on.

We'll call those 'learning experiences' for a goalkeeper that is still just 19 years old. There will be growing pains for sure, but it'll be good to have those as he develops as a player in this new challenge.

Still, it makes you wonder if he could have benefitted from staying with the Chicago Fire for another year or two before diving into the deep end with Chelsea. At this point, though, it's all about getting experience on this first of perhaps many loans as the Blues play the long game with their goalkeeping starlet. Grade: B

It was clear Ricardo Pepi was leaving Augsburg this summer and, like fellow striker Folarin Balogun, the striker opted to return to a league he'd previously shined in. The difference, though, is that Balogun's move to Monaco comes with him likely playing a key role. Pepi's path to the starting XI at PSV, at least in the short term, is a little more complex.

The former FC Dallas man starred with Groningen last season, hitting double digits for one of the Eredivisie's worst teams. That performance earned him a move to PSV, one of the league's giants that is among the best in the world at developing players.

If PSV see something in you, you're generally doing something right. That club doesn't bring in players they don't think they can mold into a top star. The problem for Pepi, though, is that he is behind veteran Luuk de Jong in the pecking order, at least for now.

How long will it take Pepi to catch or surpass De Jong? It's tough to say. PSV are invested in his development, so he'll likely get his chance eventually. However, with the Copa America less than a year away, we'll have to keep an eye on what Pepi does in this first season at his new club. Grade: B

Tyler Adams didn't deserve to play in the Championship. If he was healthy, Leeds probably wouldn't even be there. The club fell off a cliff once he got injured, which only goes to prove just how good Adams is. He's a legitimate Premier League starter, and Bournemouth confirmed that fact by signing him this summer.

It isn't the big move many expected. Adams was oh so close to joining Chelsea, who reportedly pulled out at the last minute to rob him of a major leap up the ladder. However, given what we've seen at Chelsea, it may be a blessing in disguise that Adams will instead continue his career at Bournemouth.

With the Cherries, Adams should be a key player once healthy, slotting right into a No.6 role. Can they avoid the same fate as Leeds? Early results say it'll be a struggle, but let's see how they look once Adams gets into the mix. Grade: B

Malik Tillman was fantastic on loan at Rangers last season, so it was a bit of a surprise for him to make a somewhat-lateral move to PSV. Perhaps, though, it wasn't totally sideways, as his new club just beat his former to book a spot in the Champions League group stage.

That alone will be huge for Tillman, who will get another chance to shine in the biggest club competition. Once again, he's very much in the shop window, although the Dutch giants have the opportunity to purchase the midfielder at the conclusion of this loan.

If they don't, he'll head back to Bayern Munich and likely be moved on once again, either permanently or on loan. However, all involved hope Tillman plays his way into PSV's plans and the Dutch league is exactly the type of competition that will give him the chance to do just that.

After surviving the rough-and-tumble Scottish league last season, Tillman will now get to flex his attacking ability in the Eredivisie as he looks to play his way into a more consistent USMNT role. Grade: B+

It's not the step many would have hoped for given Haji Wright's success at club level, but it is a step nonetheless. Wright had emerged as a dominant force with Antalyaspor in the Turkish Super Lig, scoring 31 goals combined over the last two seasons. That, plus his World Cup call-up, put him onto the radars of clubs in bigger leagues.

In the end, he moved to Coventry, who paid a club-record £7.7 million ($9.9 million) fee to bring him in. It's not the sexiest move, as he moves to the Championship, but it is one that comes with the potential for a big reward.

Coventry were nearly promoted last season after finishing fifth and losing in the playoff final, and despite a slow start to the new campaign, they'll be eyeing the playoffs once again. If they do get there, it'll likely be because Wright played a big part. If he does just that, bigger clubs will take notice. Grade: B+

Bryan Reynolds shot back up the depth chart a bit with his USMNT performances earlier this year, but his future chances will come down to how he rebuilds his club career. His move to Roma was a disaster, but his loan to Westerlo last season landed him a home. The Belgian side made the move permanent this summer, giving Reynolds a comfortable place to play after initial struggles in Europe.

Just 22 years old, you can't write off the right-back just yet and, if all goes well in Belgium, he very well could play his way back to a top league. Roma bought him for a reason, after all.

To get there, though, he must develop, and there are worse places than in Belgium. Westerlo clearly want and know him, and now they have a reason to develop him after they've invested in him on a permanent deal. Grade: A-

It wasn't a matter of if, but rather a matter of where. Yunus Musah was always going to leave Valencia at some point, especially given the club's financial issues, and, when he did this summer, he landed at AC Milan. Musah, for some time, has been linked with the big clubs, including some in the Premier League, but instead his journey takes him to another country he once called home: Italy.

It'll help that Christian Pulisic is there to help him acclimate while building chemistry for the international level. It'll help that he'll be returning to Italy, a country he spent time in as a child, which makes the transition just a bit easier. And it'll help that he's finally out of Valencia, a club that has had a myriad of problems on and off the field in recent years.

It seems Milan will be patient with Musah, who won't immediately be tossed into the XI, but with Sandro Tonali gone, there is a hole there that several players are competing for.

Whether Musah gets a starting spot this season or not, it seems the club expects him to get there in the future. There's a path forward for Musah that should, hopefully, help him take his game to a higher level. Grade: A-

What a ridiculous rise it has been for this American center-back. Once a highly-touted product of the Philadelphia Union academy, Auston Trusty needed a move to the Colorado Rapids to find himself. When Arsenal, the Rapids' sister club came in to sign Trusty, it was shocking, even with the relationship between the two sides.

A loan to Birmingham City, though, showed why the Gunners made the move for Trusty, who proved good enough for the Premier League even if he wasn't quite good enough for Arsenal. Newly-promoted Sheffield Unitd paid a fee of around £5 million ($6.4m) to sign the defender, who has certainly earned the move.

The question is when and if he'll play his way into the XI. The Blades generally play with three central defenders and, as things stand, Trusty looks like No.4, but it's a long season and the 25-year-old defender still has plenty of learning to do.

If he can get consistent minutes, this is exactly the type of move that can help Trusty surge up the USMNT depth chart, especially considering what the center-back pool looks like at the moment. Grade: A-

We all know what Folarin Balogun can do in Ligue 1. The question now is if he can do it again. The newly-recruited USMNT forward made his move to Monaco, completing a €45m (£38m/$49m) transfer from Arsenal. That move comes after he lit up the French league last season with Reims, scoring 21 times to burst onto the scene for club and, ultimately, country.

It could be argued that Balogun would be better off pursuing a newer, fresher challenge. He was linked to both Milan clubs at one point as well as teams in Germany and England. Could a different league and a different environment challenge him even more?

The argument against that would be that, for a striker, the only thing that matters is goals and if Balogun thinks he can get them at Monaco, then that's the right move for him.

History says he can score in this league, but can he take it one step further for a bigger and better team? If he can, the USMNT will be in a very good spot at the No.9 position. Grade: A-

Just a few weeks into life at PSV, Sergino Dest looks like the player Barcelona bought just a few short years ago. He hasn't looked like that player since arriving in Spain, and he certainly never looked like that player during his loan spell in Milan, but it's no coincidence that he's shining now.

Dest looks at home in the Eredivisie, the league where he broke out at Ajax. The American remains the prototypical Eredivisie full-back: all gas, no breaks with a full focus on aiding the attack.

He's played on the left and right for PSV in these early games, but the most important part of it all is the fact that he's played. This move, a one-year loan from Barca, is all about Dest restoring confidence, and if Barca have their way, a bit of transfer value.

From there, who knows? In the short-term, though, PSV looks like a good place for Dest to build himself back up into the player the USMNT need him to be. Grade: A

Because he was never quite prolific at Lille, Tim Weah spent chunks of the 2022-23 season as a makeshift wing-back. While that may have seemed like a demotion, it also led to Weah making a massive move this summer.

He was signed by Juventus for €12m (£10m/$13m), a relatively modest fee all things considered, and he's immediately slotted right into Juve's XI, playing that wing-back role that he began to learn last season.

Weah's new position does complicate his USMNT role, which is really the only downside of this move. On the surface, Weah has moved to a better team to receive more playing time. The only concern, and it is slight, is how that impacts his ability to play as a wide forward as the U.S. marches toward 2026. Grade: A

You can't read too much into the first few games, but it feels safe here. After so many years on the outside looking in at Chelsea, Christian Pulisic has seemingly found a home.

Pulisic has become an immediate part of the AC Milan XI, forming an attacking trio alongside Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao. In just a matter of weeks, Pulisic has been made to feel more important than he ever was at Stamford Bridge.

However, the fun part of this transfer is that 24-year-old winger didn't have to take a step down the ladder. Milan, despite their recent ups and downs, remain a legendary, historic club, one that will compete in Serie A and the Champions League this season.

Because of that, Pulisic could very well be a fixture with this club for years to come as he looks to take advantage of a vital second chance after it went sideways at Chelsea. Grade: A